Alumni Connections

Morningstar Inc., the Chicago-based financial research firm, announced the promotion of Heather Brilliant, ’05, to co-CEO of Morningstar Australasia Pty Limited in Sydney. Brilliant will manage the business with Mark Roomans, currently chief operating officer of Morningstar Europe, through 2014. She will become sole CEO in 2015.

Emanuele A. Conti, ’94, was named CEO of New York–based Kroll Inc., a risk management consulting firm. Conti was North America president of New Jersey–based commercial-information provider Dun & Bradstreet Corp.

Richard Keck, ’90, was named president and CEO of Albuquerque, New Mexico–based PhDx Systems Inc., which specializes in collecting patient-reported health data. He was previously CFO and chief operating officer of health information–technology company Aventura HQ Inc.

Jeffrey Liebman, ’84, was named CEO of Methodist University Hospital in Memphis,Tennessee. Liebman previously was president of the Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, Massachusetts.

Miguel “Mick” Lopez, ’84, joined Florida-based communications and information technology company Harris Corp. as senior vice president and CFO.

George Sauter, ’88, joined John Muir Health as chief strategy officer for the Walnut Creek, California-based health-care system.

James Savarese, ’93, was promoted to chief operating officer of Boston-based Wayfair LLC. Savarese had been senior vice president of operations for the online retailer of home furnishings.

Gregg C. Sengstack, ’82, will take over as chairman and CEO of Fort Wayne, Indiana-based Franklin Electric, a supplier of water and fuel pumping systems, on May 2. Sengstack had been president and chief operating officer.

G. Scott Uzzell, '98, was promoted to CEO of El Segundo Beach, California-based Zico Beverage Company and president and general manager of the Coca-Cola Company's Venturing and Emerging Brands (VEB) of North America group. Uzzell had been chief commercial officer and executive vice president of sales for Zico, which was recently acquired by Coca-Cola.

Miami-based Independent Living Systems hired Evan Willette, ’90, as its new CFO. The company provides managed long-term care and support services to elderly and special needs individuals.

Cindy Hartley, ’86 (XP-55), was elected president of the board of directors for the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. Hartley retired in 2011 as senior vice president for human resources at Sonoco Products Co., a Hartsville, South Carolina–based packaging company.

Siddharth “Bobby” N. Mehta, ’81, joined the board of directors of Northbrook, Illinois-based The Allstate Corp., the largest publicly held personal insurer in the United States. Mehta is former chief executive officer of the Chicago-based credit reporting agency TransUnion LLC.

David W. Meline, ’86, joined the board of directors for Livonia, Michigan-based automotive supplier TRW Automotive Holdings Corp. Meline is senior vice president and CFO for Maplewood, Minnesota-based manufacturer 3M Co. and also serves on the board of Chicago Booth’s CFO Advisory Forum.

The board of directors for the real-estate website Redfin added Robert J. Mylod, ’93, as a new member. Mylod is managing partner of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan-based Annox Capital, a privately held venture-capital firm and former vice chairman and CFO of the online travel giant Priceline.com.

Sandy Purcell, ’89, was elected an independent member of the board of directors for AudioEye, Inc., a voice browser interface based in Tucson, Arizona. Purcell is senior managing director of the Los Angeles–based investment bank Houlihan Lokey Inc.

Gregg Scott Ribatt, ’94, was named to the board of directors for Colorado-based footwear merchant Crocs Inc. Ribatt is former president and CEO of the performance and lifestyle group of Collective Brands Inc., which includes footwear brands Sperry Top-Sider, Saucony, and Keds.

Sheila A. Stamps, ’87, was named to the board of directors of New Jersey–based financial holding company CIT Group Inc. She also will serve as a member of the risk management and regulatory compliance committees.

Mountain View, California-based Coupons.com Inc., a digital coupon company, filed with federal regulators in January to raise up to $100 million in its initial public offering. Mir Aamir, '97, is CFO.

Francis Bassolino, ’02, managing partner at Shanghai-based Alaris Consulting, wrote an article posted to the Financial Times website in February called “Boiling China’s Ocean With a Butane Lighter.” The article outlines pitfalls of companies trying to turn a profit in China and lays out five guidelines for success in 2014.

Barclay Berdan, ’78, received the 2013 Earl M. Collier Award for Distinguished Health Care Administration in February. Berdan is chief operating officer and senior executive vice president of Texas Health Resources, a system of 25 hospitals in north Texas.

Stephen Bolger, ’99 (EXP-4), told The Telegraph in February that Chicago Booth’s alumni network was instrumental when he first started researching a business idea that would allow people to design their own wines. Now CEO of Pauillac, France-based Viniv, Bolger admitted he lacked experience in the wine industry. “My first move was to go through the alumni network of my old university in Chicago,” he said. “I found someone who owned a vineyard in Burgundy, called, and flew there a week later.”

Dan Doyle, ’90, was named coportfolio manager of Neuberger Berman High Yield Strategies Fund Inc. Doyle is a managing director at Neuberger Berman Group LLC, a New York–based money management firm.

Marta Glazier, ’03, was one of five new executives hired by Tampa, Florida-based Avesta Communities in 2013. As managing director, Glazier will lead the structuring, negotiation, and execution of debt and equity capital for the investment and management firm.

Darryl Goss, ’01 (XP-70), was appointed president of Sigma-Aldrich Corporation Hitech Inc. SAFC Hitech is an arm of Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, a St. Louis–based company that manufactures and distributes chemicals, biochemical, and other materials to labs, industry, and commercial markets.

Stephen Hill, ’86, was named president of ThermaCELL Repellants, a mosquito-repellant line of products owned by Bedford, Massachusetts-based Schwabel Corp., which develops and produces consumer products. Hill is the former president of Black Flag Brands, a national insecticide producer.

Jeffrey Jacob, ’00, was named vice president, strategic service and facilities administration, at New York Blood Center, one of the largest community blood centers in the country.

Jay Ian Kahn, ’98, was named director of finance and operations of the Lake Bluff, Illinois, District 65 Board of Education. Kahn previously worked for such companies as Hewitt Associates, Pepsico, and Procter & Gamble Co.

Chicago magazine named nine Chicago Booth alumni to its February list of the 100 most powerful Chicagoans. Deputy Mayor under Rahm Emmanuel and former investment banker Steve Koch, MBA ’82,JD ’82, was listed at number 14. Joseph Mansueto, AB ’78, MBA ’80, founder, chairman, and CEO of the Chicago-based financial research firm Morningstar, Inc., ranked number 16. Thomas Pritzker, MBA ’76, JD ’76, executive chairman of Hyatt Hotels, ranked number 22. Chicago Cubs chairman and co-owner, Thomas Ricketts, AB ’88, MBA ’93, was listed at number 48. Martin Nesbitt, ’89, cofounder of private equity firm Vistria Group, ranked 56th. Nesbitt also was named to the three-member board of the Barack H. Obama Foundation, formed to oversee the development of the presidential library. Robert Mariano, ’87 (XP-56), president and CEO of Milwaukee-based Roundy’s Supermarkets Inc., which runs Mariano’s Fresh Markets, was listed at number 58. Jim Reynolds, ’95, founder, chairman, and CEO of Chicago-headquartered Loop Capital Markets, ranked at 65. Byron Trott, AB ’81, MBA ’82, chair and CEO of BDT Capital Partners, came in at 67. Joanne Smith, ’00, CEO of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, ranked 80th.

Peter Layton, AB ’82, MBA ’87, was elected to serve as president of the Chicago Wilderness Trust Board, a collective of 300 organizations, which works to protect land, water, and wildlife in the region. Layton is CEO of the Tallgrass Group, a Chicago-area ecological-restoration company.

Judith Mercado, ’74, published a collection of poetry in 2013 called “Peace on the Journey,” exploring the theme of renewal in the face of adversity.

Joseph Neubauer, ’65, was elected chairman of the Philadelphia-based Barnes Foundation, which holds an extensive collection of postimpressionist and early modern paintings.

John Nevin, ’88, has been named communications director of the Michigan Supreme Court. Nevin previously was public affairs advisor at the International Joint Commission, the organization which mediates water and air issues in the great lakes region between the US and Canada.

Brian Niccol, ’03, was appointed to the Board of Governors of the Boys & Girls Club of America, headquartered in Atlanta. Niccol is chairman of the Taco Bell Foundation for Teens and president of Irvine, California-based Taco Bell Corp.

Paul Olson, ’89, vice president of St. Louis–based Gershman Mortgage, will oversee the day-to-day operations of a new production office in Chicago, which will specialize in multifamily apartments, health care, and commercial lending.

Paul Martin Russo, ’90, was one of five executives added to Goldman Sachs’ influential management committee in February. Russo is global cochief operating officer of the firm’s equity operations.

Richard R. Thevenet, ’82, was appointed senior vice president and treasurer for Pittsfield, Massachusetts-based Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc. Berkshire Hills is the parent company of Berkshire Bank and has 92 branch offices in Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, and Vermont.

Glenn Allison, ’11 (XP-80), joined Battle Creek, Michigan-based Kellogg Co. as director of global networks. He previously was director of service operations for Chicago-based industrial-supply company W. W. Grainger Inc.

Matthew Beverly, ’06, joined Oak Brook, Illinois-based Retail Properties of America, Inc., one of the largest owners and operators of shopping centers in the US, as vice president, director of investments in the east region. He will be responsible for leading investment activity for all markets east of the Mississippi River.

Karen Brennan, ’07, was chosen to lead the new custom accounts group at Chicago-based real estate-investment manager LaSalle Investment Management. In her new role, Brennan, who also is managing director and head of the Americas strategic partnerships group, will grow LaSalle’s separate accounts programs and one-off joint venture investments.

Sonja Brisard, ’09 (XP-78), was named 2013’s Franchisee of the Year for BookKeeping Express, a Tysons Corner, Virginia-based company that provides bookkeeping, financial, and accounting services to small businesses.

Ruchira Chaudhary,’13 (AXP-11), joined the New York­–based insurance giant American International Group Inc. as its regional head of organizational effectiveness and change management for Asia Pacific.

Carl Daniel Hill, ’06 (AXP-5), was hired by marketing and design firm Liberty Creative Solutions of Tinley Park, Illinois, to fill the newly created position of general manager. Hill was formerly a general site manager at Bedford Park, Illinois-based Corn Products International, a division of Aramark Corp.

The website Poets & Quants, a social network for people interested in graduate business school education, named two Chicago Booth alumni in its February list of “The 40 Most Outstanding B-School Profs Under 40 In the World.” Asaf Manela, MBA ’11, PhD ’11, assistant professor of finance at Washington University in St. Louis, is “already producing fantastic academic research,” according to the website, winning several “Best Paper” awards for his research in asset pricing, financial intermediation, and information economics. The list describes Harikesh Nair, PhD ’05, associate professor of marketing at Stanford University, as “an expert on marketing analytics,” with award-winning studies published in top-tier journals and covered by worldwide media outlets.

Yogesh Riyat, ’07, founded an online boutique, Elavate.me, where sales of emerging brands will help support charity projects.

J. Scott Turner, ’09 (XP-78), was named regional business development manager for Chicago-based Realogy, which provides real estate and relocations services. He also is an investment consultant for Coldwell Commercial NRT, a commercial real-estate division of real-estate brokerage firm NRT LLC. In these roles, he handles commercial sales and investments across the North East United States and works as part of a team that provides real estate services and portfolio management. Turner currently is working toward becoming a certified commercial investment manager (CCIM).

James "Gordie" Vap, ’05, was promoted to managing director at BlackArch Partners, a middle-market investment bank based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Vap is a founder of the bank and heads the firm’s aerospace, defense, and government-services industry practice.

Jeremy Yee, ’12 (AXP 11), was appointed to the audit committee for Stemlife Berhad, a Malaysia-based cord blood and adult stem cell bank and regenerative medicine company. He is the CEO of Singapore-based Cordlife Group Ltd., a service provider of umbilical cord blood and tissue banking.